The Society of Cretan Historical Studies sadly bids farewell to sculptor Aspasia Papadoperaki, a corresponding member, who passed away on March 4, 2026.

Aspasia Papadoperaki was a staunch supporter and friend of the Historical Museum of Crete. In 2012, she donated eighteen paintings by her brother, the painter Thomas Papadoperakis, to the Museum’s Modern and Contemporary Art Collection, curated the exhibition of the same name and the parallel events. She also donated medals, her own works to the Numismatic Collection of the Historical Museum of Crete and loaned material from her extensive archive on the poet C.P. Cavafy to two temporary exhibitions held at the Historical Museum of Crete in 2013 and 2016.

Aspasia Papadoperaki was born in Spilia, Heraklion, Crete. She studied sculpture at the Athens School of Fine Arts and at the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where she also took courses in set design and costume design. Her important works adorn public spaces in Greece and abroad, such as the composition Theotokopoulos – Kornaros – Kazantzakis and the busts of Nikos Xylouris and Nikos Kitsikis in Heraklion, Crete, the bust of Constantine Cavafy in Alexandria, Egypt, the statue of Maria Callas, the statue of Philip II, and the composition by Electra Apostolou, Monument to the National Resistance 41-44, in Athens. Aspasia Papadoperaki worked in theater as a set and costume designer, collaborating with important artists, and in 2009 she was honored by the Academy of Athens for her entire body of work.